The Indian government at last is acknowledging the Indian Pharmacy sector, at least in principle, and is giving a serious hearing to their key demands.
Netmeds plans for major expansion
Netmeds.com is preparing for a major expansion into India’s small towns and cities. The company, founded in 2010, delivers medicines ordered online across 12,000 pin codes in India. “We are now busy setting up the infrastructure and foundation so that when the regulatory clearances come we can cater to larger volumes. We should be ready,” said Pradeep Dadha, chief executive of Netmeds, which is planning a chain of offline stores as well.
The Indian Pharmacy market
The Indian pharmacy market is humongous, assessed by industry to be about Rs 1.2 lakh crore in size. The online drug store advertise, assessed to be a small amount of that at Rs 700-800 crore, has been tormented by administrative obstacles that are presently hinting at facilitating. As Indian government is taking a proactive stance on demands of the various Pharmaceutical companies, more than 200 e-pharmacy start-ups including 1mg, PharmEasy and Myra are hoping to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Online pharmacies welcome government proposal
To tackle the issue of parity and menace of fake medicines, the health ministry has recommended a website to electronically register every stakeholder in the pharmaceutical industry and record details of every sale executed through them. This step has been welcomed by many pharmaceutical companies.
Pharmaceutical companies raise funds from Venture capitals
1mg in June brought $15 million up in series-C funding from HBM Healthcare Investments and existing speculators Sequoia Capital, Maverick Capital and Kae Capital. PharmEasy in March shut a $17-million series-B fund raise from Bessemer Venture Partners, Orios Venture Partners, Aarin Capital and different financial specialists. Also, Myra in April raised an undisclosed sum from Matrix Partners and Times Internet.
